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For many of us, our gardens are a place of retreat - somewhere we use to escape the hassles of everyday life. Trees, shrubs, flowers and grasses provide us with more than just a pretty landscape, they offer habitat for a biodiversity of wildlife, act as air filters, combing pollutants from the air we breath, and muffle urban noise pollution. How your ‘green spaces’ can help tackle climate change HOW GREEN IS YOUR GARDEN? ‘Science for Sustainability’ project contact details Dr Zoe Robinson [email protected] (01782) 734303 Prof. Mark Ormerod [email protected] (01782) 733475 Nicola Ruston [email protected] (01782) 733161 But even our green spaces can be more climate-friendly… Follow these simple tips for a ‘green space’ that’s really green! Eating and drinking outside is hugely popular in the UK. Outdoor heaters, which are powered by gas or electricity, are very energy- hungry, producing high levels of carbon emissions which contribute to climate change. In 4 hours the average patio heater emits the same amount of carbon dioxide as the average car emits in a day! Pull on an extra layer when it gets cold outside rather than using an outdoor heater! Patio heaters 10 kg CO 2 Saving water in the garden A garden hose sprinkler can use as much water in 1 hour as an average family of four uses in 1 day! Use a watering can to water your garden; hosepipes and sprinklers waste tremendous amounts of water! With summers predicted to get drier and drier in the UK, our gardens will need more and more watering. You may not think about energy when you turn on the tap, but all the water we get out of our taps has used up energy through being purified. Keep your lawn healthy !!! Let the grass grow longer in dry spells to help keep moisture in the soil Lawns are usually the thirstiest part of a garden! Soils and fertilisers Skip the chemicals - make your own compost Nitrogen-based fertilizers produce nitrous oxide. Nitrous oxide is over 300 times more effective than CO 2 in trapping heat reflected from the Earth. Having a compost bin or starting a compost heap means you can use your kitchen and garden waste to improve your soil and reduce your household waste at the same time! Instead of throwing away all your garden waste, vegetable peelings, paper and cardboard, compost them! Using compost and manure will build up the organic content of your soil – this will increase it’s ability to retain moisture!. Minimize turf areas… Do you really need a lawn the size of a football field? Just think…more grass = more mowing! Try attractive, no-mow groundcovers and other creative landscaping alternatives to cut down on your grass-cutting emissions. …but maximise GREENERY! Using an electric lawn mower for one hour releases the pollution equivalent of driving 563 km in a car! Lawn is preferable to concrete, brick, paving stones or asphalt. These reflect heat and contribute to the urban heat island effect.. Every bit of greenery helps clean the air, sequesters carbon dioxide, and prevents soil erosion! Grow your own food and you’ll know exactly how far it’s travelled!. Install water butts to collect the rainwater from your roof and make use of grey water (old bath and shower water) for watering your garden! The average household throws away 14 kilograms of food packaging per week. The food you grow yourself won’t have any packaging! Growing just a little bit of your own produce can help reduce the environmental costs of packaging and transporting food. Even locally sourced food can travel hundreds of miles between supplier, distribution warehouse and store. Grow your own food – Reduce food miles Fertilisers are very energy intensive! The equivalent of 9 million tonnes of CO 2 is produced every year through fertiliser manufacture and transport! Visit our website: www.esci.keele.ac.uk/sfs
